"Getting stronger together!": a large-scale

Getting stronger together

Thepresentation of the Ukrainian-Swiss initiative “Becoming Stronger Together!“, designed to provide physical and psychological rehabilitation for children affected by the war, was held at the Parkovy Exhibition and ConventionCenter in Kyiv. The initiative will be implemented by the DECIDE project in partnership with the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, and the Presidential Foundation for Support of Education, Science, and Sports.

Ukrainian children experience the war in different ways, and they all need special attention and support. Consequences of the war — These are challenges that require new skills from each of us right now. That is why the DECIDE project, together with the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, and the Presidential Foundation for Support of Education, Science and Sports, is launching “Getting Stronger Together!” — an initiative to help children affected by the war.

The main directions of the program were explained on February 22 during a presentation in Kyiv. The event was welcomed by the partners of the initiative – Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Andriy Vitrenko, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Natalia Aliushyna, Head of the National Agency, and online Ilona Postemska, Senior Program Coordinator of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.

“We probably realize that the future of any state – These are children. Every Ukrainian child has experienced it, what a war against the Ukrainian state is. We (the state) face new challenges. There are children who still live in the temporarily occupied territories. There are children who are directly on the contact line. I know that the Cabinet of Ministers raised certain issues regarding children in Bakhmut, in Velykonovosilivka, and in those towns that were actually destroyed by the Russian Federation. There is a separate issue of children who have actually gone abroad. How we, as a Ukrainian state, should keep in touch with them. So that they do not forget that they are Ukrainian children. And so that after the war is over, they will have a desire to return to Ukraine. These are new challenges for our country. That’s why it’s especially nice to find like-minded people. I would like to thank the Swiss-Ukrainian project DECIDE for their proposal, which we unconditionally supported, as did our colleagues from the government. We are all doing one big thing together – we continue to educate our Ukrainian children“, – opened the presentation with a speech Dmytro LUBINETS, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

“I would like to express my absolute support to our partners at DECIDE, who have offered such a great program. Today, our children face huge challenges every day. Our task, as adults, is to help them in this. Because for Ukrainians, there is nothing more valuable than the lives of their own children. That is why the DECIDE project is relevant and very much needed. I am confident that over time we will be able to scale it even further and introduce it fully throughout the country“, – wished Andriy VITRENKOFirst Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.